Steps to a happy, healthier brain

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The brain is the most crucial and complex human organ. And yet we fail to take care of it the way we do our heart, liver, and stomach. We must nurture our brains in a way that promotes proper and healthy functioning. So how exactly do we nourish our brains?

Eating good, healthy food:

It’s true when they say that you are what you eat. Omega three fatty acids are crucial to providing your brain with a healthy coating. Foods that are high in calcium, magnesium, and vitamins E, B12, and D are extremely beneficial for the development of new and healthy brain cells. Food greatly affects our mood. Anything that is high in sugar should be avoided in excess, as it tends to be a depressant, and main contributor to anxiety related illnesses.

Get plenty of rest:

Rest is the time when your body recovers itself from the hard day you put it through. You brain functions when it’s had time to “shut down,” and not be over stimulated by all of the triggers you face throughout the day.

In fact, it impedes upon our ability to feel pleasure. Feeling pleasure is extremely stimulating for your brain, and this offers rewards later on in life and the longevity of happiness

Disconnect:

Are we being hardwired to look at competition as a means of self-discovery and worth? Believe it or not, this culture of online trolling deeply affects our brain and how happy we are. It’s no secret that social media connects and disconnects us from one-another and reality at large. It also fosters uneahlthy levels of competition – lifestyles, beauty, and success. We have really unrealistic expectations about success and how to attain it.

Change your expectations:

Not everyone can become the next TEDx speaker, or be on the cover of Forbes magazine – and so what? Unfortunately, success is not relative. It is measured by outward levels of achievement that are often biased, arbitrary and systemically favourable to a select few. Only some of us benefit from systems that award merit based on capital culture. Success today is the person with the greatest amount of social media followers, or the person on television, in magazines.

It is not something we like to narrow down to luck because we somehow feel like it diminishes our own efforts and places power in the hands of some mystical belief system that abolishes our sense of control and ownership.

I think we are breeding a culture of youth who want validation through mass measures of success. Fame has become tangible, as we invite content creation at our fingertips. We encourage competitiveness to the point where it takes away the power from ourselves and into bystanders. I don’t know what success is anymore.

There are so many ways that we chip away at the integrity of humanity by limiting ourselves to certain measures. We want to be each other. We don’t want to walk the beaten trail. We want to be everyone else but better. It doesn’t make sense. It hastens us to mistakes. It is crucial to face struggle because it teaches us how to rise from it. It is very important to have numerous pieces to the puzzle of success. This will actually make you happier.

Embrace positivity:

Optimal, positive thoughts increase the level of serotonin in the brain and support brain growth. Focus on your progress, and not on what else you can achieve or about the ten people on you. Positive thinking changes the structure of your brain to function in accordance with good reasoning.